The HTC One S is now official after weeks of rumours and speculation about the new phone launching at Mobile World Congress.

"HTC S is a powerful smartphone in a super sexy form factor," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, at the press launch at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona.

The new model, which will sit in the middle of a range of new smartphones from HTC, will pack a 4.3-inch, 960 x 540 display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm, with 1GB RAM. It will run HTC Sense 4 on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Other specs include 16GB of internal storage and a design that is crafted from a new manufacturing process, known as microarc oxidation. It will feature a 1650mAh battery alongside the usual connectivity offerings such as Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 3.5mm stereo audio jack with Beats Audio.

But the real excitement surrounding the new HTC One S phone is the camera. Focusing on a number of new technologies HTC has included an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with a backside illuminated sensor, smart LED flash, and an f/2.0 aperture 28mm lens.

A first for smartphones, HTC will also allow you to snap pictures while you record 1080p video, as well as make it much easier to capture a series of images in burst mode by holding down the shutter button on screen.

The new phone will come in two different manufacturing finishes and be available in April in the UK.

Orange, Three and Vodafone have confirmed to Pocket-lint that they will be stocking the new handset.

You can see more photos and first impressions in our HTC One S hands-on.